Swimming paddles, also commonly known as “training paddles”, “hand paddles”, and “pulling paddles”, are typically thin plates, frequently made of plastics, wood or similar material, with straps for holding the plates on the hands of swimmers during swim practice to enhance muscle build-up and speed. The paddles are relatively flat, often slightly concave, with rounded edges. The paddles also have straps on one side for securing them to the fingers and hand. They may also come in the form of a webbed glove, as described in “Interdigital webbed swimming glove” EP 2543417 A1.
The original swimming paddle is often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, and many designs have been invented over the years. Examples include those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,810,138 to Cochran (fitted to the back of the hand with knuckle indexing indentations); U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,710 to Rives et al (fitted to the front of the hand with a palm swell, and made from a transparent material); U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,319 to Nessel (hand-shaped planar paddle, with wrist extensions to keep the wrist stiff); and U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,418 to Schlueter et al (swim paddle with an approximately hand-sized pattern of apertures allowing water through to the swimmer's hand for better “feel” of the water, and an offset hand position placing the thumb closer to the edge of the paddle).
The paddles are typically sold in a single size although some manufactures may manufacture the paddles in a range of sizes, for example, small, medium and large to meet the size of the hands of swimmers. Swim paddles are essentially available in stock sizes and manufactured in mass and not custom made to order.
It is a well known fact that the paddle size is important, and that the ideal size is determined relative to the swimmer's hand. All paddles to date have come a limited number of size increments. “Size” may pertain to surface area of the paddle, or to the size of the swimmers hand, or to both. Typically, smaller paddles are designed for people with smaller hands, and larger paddles for larger hands. There are some paddles that have many holes enabling swimmers of many different hand sizes to arrange the strap to fit their hand, yet these paddles are also of the stock-size variety, and are “optimal” geometry for a certain sized hand. As swimmer's hands diverge from that optimal, comfort, fit and effectiveness are compromised. For example, a person who is pursuing competitive swimming may wish to begin with a smaller area paddle in order to avoid any muscle damage and build muscles over a period of time during of development of the athlete will have to use paddles that tend to be sized optimally for smaller hands at the beginning, and paddles ideal for larger hands as they progress. While this is feasible, and may be common practice due to lack of alternative, it is not ideal. It would be helpful to have a range of paddle sizes available for the same relative hand size. It would also be helpful to have paddles that have fingertip placement for proficient swimmers.
The paddle size may be defined (and/or defined) as a multiple or incremental value relative to the user's hand. It's important, because the relative size of the paddle is more critical (optimal) to the core functionality/purpose of the paddle than is the absolute size of the paddle. Naturally, the overall size of a human hand, and the lengths of each finger can vary significantly for each individual. The current sizing methods (i.e. S, M, L) could be misleading as they do not inherently incorporate the size, age, strength or other characteristic of the user. Using a paddle that is too big for a user could cause over-exertion or injury. Using a paddle that is too small might not achieve the intended training results for more aggressive users.
Although many prior types of swim paddle are known, none appears to be designed for efficient storage and transport with the other equipment normally carried by swimmers. None provides what might be considered to be an optimal “feel” for the water, and grip onto the paddle without compromising swimming efficiency. And none provides a truly convenient and cost-efficient way to custom-fit a paddle to a swimmer's hand.